Hello Guides!
For this week’s 集合, we had an Obstacle Journey, which allowed the Year 1s and Year 2s to learn about and improve on the necessary skills needed for Obstacle Journey, such as Inspection, Gadgeting, First Aid and Problem Solving.
Inspection Part I
After retrieving the needed logistics for the Obstacle Journey and mass changing into their OJ Kit, the Guides were given a storyline, which is as follows:
You and your group are about to enter a barren landscape with no resources. Before venturing in, you will first have to ensure that you have all the necessary sufficient supplies to sustain you through the long trek. You will be given a timing to layout all of your logistics and there is no specific layout to follow. Beware of wild bears.
With that, the Guides had started off today’s Obstacle Journey with the first task: Inspection.
Reflection from a Year 2:
We had an inspection before OJ. It was one of the first few times our batch had to lead the Year 1s for inspection. During inspection, we were very lost as we are not sure how to ensure every patrol could layout the logistics correctly and at the same time, ensure that we have to 照顾好东西和人, which was very stressful. It might have been due to poor communication between each other and poor allocation of manpower that caused us to often 过时. For example, if we had sent 1 or 2 people to check and standardize our layout with other patrols we might have finished laying out everything quicker. In the 2nd inspection, only Year 1s were to lay out the logistics with us giving instructions. We got quite frustrated as there was not much effective progress and we could not touch the logistics. I think we should improve in the area of being and try to be patient no matter how stressful inspection can be. Furthermore, it has been a learning opportunity for us all and I hope to find ways for our inspection skills to improve. I have also learnt the importance of inspection, so as to why we shouldn't prepare a pre-inspection layout.
After inspection had been completed, it was time to start with the Obstacle Journey! The overall storyline is as follows:
You are a group of explorers setting out to find a great treasure in an unknown land. But beware, for the land is filled with greedy pirates and thieves who seek the treasure for themselves. Along the way, you may face such people and the booby traps set by them, but with every obstacle you overcome, you shall be rewarded for your hard work. But watch out for your logistics as the thieves are known to be fast but sneaky. As you travel the land, you will have to keep a lookout for clues that the pirates may have accidentally dropped to guide you as to where the treasure may be. Clues to treasure location will be written on yellow post-its and hidden around each station location. The treasure will be labelled. (Treasure is a packet of Mamee and will be located in Locker G04 outside the General Science Lab) Clues will be written on yellow post-its and hidden around Block G. (There will be 2 copies of each clue hidden, so there are 10 post-its and 5 clues in total) The first patrol to find the treasure and bring it back with them during 全团集合 at 1730 at the GSL will be declared the winner and awarded a prize, which is the Mamee they found.
Station 1: First Aid
The first station was all about testing the Guides’ knowledge on First Aid. This is the storyline:
As you and your patrol are wandering in an abandoned temple on your search for the treasure, the booby traps laid by the thieves and pirates are activated and some of your patrol mates are injured. It’s up to you to rescue the casualties, and face anything that comes your way, find the answer to escape before time runs out. You have 25 minutes to escape before it is too late.
Every 5 minutes, a booby trap would start to release poison gas. To prevent the spread of the deadly gas, a hidden post-it has to be found by the patrol. To prevent too much of the gas from entering the airways, Guides could have used the scarf to cover their mouth and nose. The treatments of casualties has to be stopped if the post-it cannot be found. However, there is a twist: if the post-it found has an injury written on it, one additional person will become a casualty.
After 15 minutes, an even more toxic gas has been released. It is so strong that even breathing through a scarf will not help. To stop the spread of the gas, the patrol could choose to sacrifice one patrol member that can no longer be saved or escape by the 20 minute mark without anyone being sacrificed.
Some sudden challenges were added, such as the scenario of the floor collapsing soon or a bear attack occurring. In order to escape, has to treat all casualties and correctly solve a riddle:
What room do ghosts avoid?
The Living Room!
This not only the Guides First Aid skills, but also their sense of urgency and conscience when choosing whether to sacrifice a patrol member or not.
Reflection from a Year 1:
I feel that we should have read the guides notes more clearly and memorized the different ways to treat different types of injuries. We were quite familiar with the bandages. However, we were not very familiar with first aid skills like how to treat an unconscious patient and headache. I also felt that we could have allocated our manpower better and have a better sense of urgency. I also felt that that our patrol spirit was quite good, when asked if we would rather sacrifice one member or have less time… We all chose to have less time and this shows that all of us feel our manpower is important. Despite that I felt that we should 报时 and cheer more.
Reflection from a Year 2:
Station 1 was our First Aid station and I felt that we could revise the guides notes more and familiarise ourselves with all the treatments for first aid. Although we knew how to tie the bandages, our explanations for the treatments were incomplete and we are unsure of them too. During the station, our sense of urgency was not up and we did not cheer and 报时 constantly as well. We could better allocate our manpower so that all of us would not crowd at one casualty and neglect the others as it is not efficient. We also spent lots of time finding the solution to stop gas leak. I was pretty happy that our patrol chose not to sacrifice 1 casualty as none of us should be left behind. Overall this station made me have better insights on first aid.
Station 2: PT and Trekking Signs
For the second station, the Guides were trained on their PT and tested on their knowledge of Trekking Sigs. This is the storyline:
While looking for the treasure, you and your patrol stumble upon a village. They have held your Y3 hostage. The only way to get them back is to beat the villagers in a match of physical and intellectual ability. In order to get your senior back, you will have to find the secret password by naming the trekking signs you encounter along the way, all while proving your physical superiority. Remember, the price of failure is heavy.
After completing a set of Physical Training exercises, the patrol would have to identify the meaning of the Trekking Signs that were drawn on post-its. For every correct answer, they would receive a word. By the end of 10 minutes, they should be able to piece together a sentence. Upon succeeding, they would be able to receive an additional clue about the treasure. If they fail to do so, they would have to perform a forfeit. The sentence was: The house is haunted, I was afraid when I saw the chair move by itself.
Reflection from a Year 1:
I feel that we did really well in station 2 as we managed to finish most of the Trekking Signs rather quickly. The only sign that we had most trouble with was the sign for 'canteen'. The word puzzle at the end was quite tricky though but the whole station was really fun and I really enjoyed it. The activity helped me learn more about the Trekking Signs and while we did get some help for some of the signs, I think the whole station was completed rather smoothly. It was a very interesting way to learn more about the Trekking Signs and I hope to have more such activities again.
Reflection from a Year 2:
In my opinion, i feel that we completed station 2 really fast as we were able to recognise most of the trekking signs. the only one we were unsure of was the sign which meant “canteen”. However, in the end after 3 times of trying we finally got it right. Even though it took us quite some time to solve the sentence, we managed to arrange it in the correct order in the end. as we managed to finish the station within the given time, we did not have a forfeit. This station was very enjoyable as it was also like a treasure hunt because we had to look for where the different post-its are. I think we can revise our guides notes more often and make sure we are extremely familiar with all the Trekking Signs. overall, I found this station very fun.
Station 3: Survival Skills and Gadgeting
The third station was about testing their survival skills and gadgeting. The storyline is as follows:
After days of travelling, your patrol is slowly running out of resources. You decide to light a signal fire in hopes of attracting nearby travellers. To replenish your water supply, there is a stream nearby, however, it is dirty and contaminated with fish faeces. The place is dangerous and wild animals may attack you at any moment, so you decide to build something to fight back. Based on your sixth sense, you know that you only have 20 minutes before the animal arrives. What will you do?
Patrols had to build a catapult, light a signal fire, and recite the steps on how to build any of the water filters within 20 minutes. Every 5 minutes, 2 patrol members had to step out to perform a set of Circuit PT until the 5 minutes was up, and the 2 members would have to swap places with another 2 patrol members.
Reflection from a Year 2:
For the third station, I feel that we could have allocated manpower better. Instead of all of us discussing the water filter, one person could have answered while the rest do the other tasks. I also think that we should familiarise ourselves with guides notes more and remember to wet newspaper below the 原子炉 so we will not burn the ground. We also should have tore a part of the newspaper instead of wasting all of it. In addition, we should have packed 3原子炉 and 原子蜡 instead of 2. We also needed to become more familiar with basic structures such as the catapult and improve our communication such that the next group knows what PT to do. Furthermore, we can improve on our sense of urgency, lash tying skills and prioritise our tasks.
Inspection Part II
Lastly, to allow the patrols to check what logistics they had or did not have by laying them out neatly, there was another round of inspection at the end of the Obstacle Journey at the MRl. This also allowed the Guides to improve on their Inspection skills based on the feedback given during Inspection Part I.
Reflection from a Year 1:
I feel that we didn’t do our best for the inspection after OJ and we had a lot to improve on. Firstly, we could have a better sense of urgency and lay out our 配备 faster. Secondly, we could have made full use of our manpower and not have any Zuo Bos. Thirdly, we could have asked nicely for our manpower or logistics back when they were kapped. Last but not least, we should speak up more to cheer and 报时. Even though we are Year 1s, we should try to make it a habit for the following years in Girl Guides. I will learn from our mistakes and try to do better in the following 集合s。
Reflection from a Year 2:
We had inspection again after OJ and it was hectic and definitely a good learning experience. We had inspection a few times and during the first one some logistics and manpower were kapped, including our ICs. The second one went better but some logistics and manpower were still kapped, although considerably less. After a few runs, we began to work together better and communication between different patrols were better such as learning to 对 to a certain patrol faster. We also had better sense of urgency. Thinking back to the first run, I think we improved a lot by the last one and learnt a lot from our mistakes.
This marked the end of the Obstacle Journey, as well as the 集合. We hope that everyone learnt a few important skills and enjoyed themselves today!
Published by:
Heather
51st Batch Secretary
